Hi all, I have an adoptee named Timmy.  I know for a FACT he was well
cared for, fed and loved in his former home.  His former human said he
was always skinny and scraggly,slept a lot since she bought him in a pet
store.  She believes him to be about 2 years old, although he was an
adult ( and supposedly a year old) when she bought him .  This particular
pet store is a bad place by the way.He had vet care and his fomer vet
found nothing wrong with him.I do not know how ferret knowledgable the
vet was and cannot get an answer to what tests were ever done on him.This
vet said he was probably just " the runt"
 
He is very affectionate and gives kisses but hates to be held and
cuddled.He has a nervous personality.
 
He will play for 5 minutes tops, then head back to the hammock, he eats
but makes a grinding chewy noise when he eats, he is so thin his bones
stick out, his fur is sparse and coarse especially on the legs, he is
small and walks in a very ( even more than usual) humped postion .  His
back legs go out.  A few days after he arrived he came down with the
green poops ( it spread of course).Everyone is recovered now and I have
had Timmy for 3 months.  He recently lost even more weight and became
even more lethargic a few weeks ago.His stomach was actually hollow.He
looked wasted and slept even more.He does eat and drink , but I would say
not enough.
 
I took him to my vet and his blood sugar was low.  Being as I am
currently semi employed I CANNOT afford furthur tests at this time, so
we are assuming insulinoma.His heart sounds were normal,CBC normal, no
apparant adrenal signs.no parasites..one small redish blister on his lip.
 
I know how important diet and a full belly is,so i began hand feeding him
a high protein duck soup mixture i made up, he would not eat it on his
own.At the bowl with others he gets pushed out and just leaves.He craves
sugar and his former human fed him breakfast cereal with milk every
morning.
 
NOW he is frenzied for a hand feeding and has bitten me ( drawn blood)
3 times when he was hungry..  I of course can not allow the biting but
he has learned to associate me with being fed.  He loses it when he is
hungry, he trembles ,shakes,gets stiff..  ... I feed him the mix about
3-4 times day till he seems satisfyed.  he otherwise grazes the 8 in 1
ferret food.
 
After the bite I gave him a time out and sharp angry tone, for a few
minutes in the cage, but had to feed him after.I know it is not his
fault, it is also very out of charachter for him to bite my lip so
hard he went right through it, to draw blood from my ankle and go
right through my finger..he looked phased out after he did it.
 
I know I am being a woos of sorts, in feeding him so soon after a bite,
but he is glazed out and trembles..I try putting it in a bowl and he
won;t touch it.  he definitly associates me with being fed.  If you could
see how awful he looks you would woos out too !!...He is like a fuzzy
skeleton.
 
How can I get him fed and not have him engage in any biting behavior.??Is
there some other disease or condition i should consider here?.Anything I
can test for in a relativly inexpensive way?> I have a female who needs
surgery for sabaceous cell tumor and a male who needs surgery for mast
cell tumor on the neck.
 
He also vomited last night in a big way and all over.He did the same last
week,.  vomited several times and all over the place.  I started a small
amount of laxatone several days ago just in case of block or hairball..
 
Any opinion on prednisone or other meds..espeically since he only had one
fasting blood suger done and he is in such bad shape??
 
Sorry this is a long letter...Help anyone, this poor kid looks bad.
 
Christine
[Posted in FML issue 4048]